Nowitzki, Kidd team up to give Dallas a victory over Memphis

Published 6:00 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2008

Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and Kidd had 15 assists to lead the Mavericks to a 98-83 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

"He was decisive and knew who he wanted to get the ball to, when he wanted to get it to them, and he looked like he found his rhythm," said Jason Terry, who scored 22 points for Dallas on 9-of-15 shooting. "That's the Jason Kidd we know."

Kidd came to the Mavericks from New Jersey in a blockbuster eight-player deal Tuesday. While Kidd only scored two points, his floor leadership was much better than it was in his Mavericks debut _ eight points, five assists and six turnovers _ in a 104-93 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday. He had two turnovers offset by four steals against the Grizzlies.

"I was a little bit more relaxed just to play basketball," Kidd said. "Leading up to that first game, it had been a little bit of a circus. Now that we can concentrate on the game of basketball, that's what I have to do."

Josh Howard added 20 points. Nowitzki missed only one of his nine shots in the game, while shooting 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. Kidd's 15 assists was a season high for a Dallas player. The Mavericks had a season-high 32 in the game.

Dallas had lost four straight road games, but a stop in Memphis can cure most road woes.

The Mavericks, who have won 11 straight regular season games in the series, took a double-digit lead in the first quarter, led by 20 in the first half, and extended it to 26 after the break.

Memphis put together a 15-2 rally spanning the third and fourth periods to pull within 10, but did not have enough. The Grizzlies dropped their fourth straight and 10th in 11 games.

"When we made the run, we were getting steals, rebounds, we were pushing the ball up the court," Conley said. "We were getting easy buckets and rhythm shots that everybody can make."

Memphis was without second-leading scorer Mike Miller, who sat out with a sore back suffered earlier in the week. That left the Grizzlies with little veteran presence on the floor.

Dallas shot 50 percent, while holding Memphis to 38 percent.

The Grizzlies, with all the recent trades and player releases, had a lot of young, inexperienced combinations on the floor, and the lack of continuity seemed to affect Memphis' offense. Nothing was smooth and Memphis struggled, as the Mavericks built a 62-43 lead at the break.

"There's just too much firepower over there for our guys right now," Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni said. "They bothered our shooters, and we are not going to win games shooting 38 percent."

Meanwhile, Nowitzki and the rest of the Mavericks were marveling at their new point guard, talking about how he makes the game easier, hits the open man and makes unexpected plays.

"When he's in the air and looks like he's got nowhere to go, he throws a crosscourt pass to wide open shooters," Nowitzki said. "That's why he's one of the best passers this league has ever seen."

Notes:@ Miller originally hurt his back against Seattle on Tuesday. It was his second game on the inactive list. … Marcus Vinicius, obtained from New Orleans in a three-team deal on Thursday, had not arrived in Memphis. … Dallas F/G Jerry Stackhouse was on the active list, and entered the game in the first quarter. Stackhouse had missed 12 of the previous 13 games with a strained right hamstring.